An infusion of cash is expected to help a Twin Cities non-profit help about 20 Twin Citians with credit problems become homeowners. U.S. Bank has invested $2.6 million investment in the Sustainable Home Ownership Program (SHOP) Bridge to Success Fund, which also received funding from clients of the bank's high net-worth wealth management unit Ascent Private Capital Management.

SHOP is a partnership between Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation and Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services, which sells houses, like the one in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood pictured above and below, to people who are ineligible for traditional financing on a contract for deed that enables them time to resolve credit issues and eventually get permanent financing. That process usually takes 5 to 10 years.

Investors also include the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and the nonprofit Family Housing Fund are also investors. SHOP is apparently one of the first programs in the country to take the approach. The program was applauded by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Here's what Phillip Trier, market president for U.S. Bank in the Twin Cities, had to say about the company's involvement in the program: “In addition to soliciting private business investment, SHOP provides an attractive, socially-responsible investment opportunity for individual high-net-worth investors. Hopefully, it can serve as a template and help generate capital to support homeownership nationwide.”